Golden Stardust
by Dome of Bones
Summary: Joseph wakes up in an unfamiliar place.


Check the bottom of the chapter for notes.

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He awoke to an unfamiliar sky. Clouds were dotted sparsely throughout it, and the sunset seemed to have just begun. It almost...almost made the clouds seem like gold dust hovering in the air.

His head became less fuzzy, and suddenly the memories were flooding back. DIO. The World. Jotaro. Egypt. Knives.

A momentary panicked gripped him as he clutched at his throat. He found nothing there. And indeed, he didn't feel any worse for wear either.

By contrast...he felt better. More alive, lighter and more energetic than he had in decades as he go to his feet. Then he notices the subtle changes around his hands, and his frame. The joints didn't feel stiff, his Hamon breathing was working at what he'd remembered as it's peak. It was only then that he truly realized what had happened.

"OH MY GOD!"

He looked around to check if it was all a dream. Everything felt real but at the same time, it was all disconnected. Much like a mirage.

"It's no dream."

The strong yet gentle voice seemed to come from nowhere, and he simply darted his eyes everywhere around him he could to find it's source. He did so finally, catching glimpse of an incredibly tall and obviously muscular blue-haired Englishman clad in a classic suit. Reading a book while sitting on a bench that hadn't been there before, the man looked content to simply stay that way for a while, not saying a thing more, transfixed by the book he could not make out the title of.

"Oi, you. Who are you? Where am I?"

The stranger smiled, rising to his full height, and for the first time in his life he saw a perfect combination of a brutish, if well-proportioned, body with a sculpted yet gentle face, emerald eyes filled to the brim with affection.

"You already know Joseph. The pain, the death and the suffering. It all ends here."

He stood silent for a good few moments, pondering exactly who he was speaking to and where exactly they were. The weight of the revelation was almost suffocating.

"So did I...?"

Jonathan gave a sheepish smile, like a child having been caught with his hands in the cookie jar.

"Not quite yet. You can choose to stay, or you can choose to go. You're perfectly down the middle. A rare case among experiences like this trust me."

"But, wait...DIO, Jotaro, the-"

"It doesn't matter now does it?" Jonathan said, gazing upon the cloudy horizon. "You did your best. Your best may not have been good enough."

He sighed, more than a hint of melancholy in his eyes.

"The regrets...will haunt you even here. But in all my decades here, or who really knows how long it has been," Jonathan smiled again. "I have learnt this is the place to rest. To accept that you did what you could with what you had. To pass on the torch, as much as you want to help them in anyway you can."

He could see now, the clouds. Forming apparitions, from his past and present.

_Speedwagon. Granny Erina. George Joestar. Avdol. Iggy. Kakyoin._

He stopped at the last ghost waving him from the far away.

"Cea..."

They stared for a while longer.

Jonathan however, broke off his gaze to pick something from one of his pockets, revealed a few seconds later to be a watch.

"Well, it's just about time."

Joseph could barely bring himself to pull his eyes away from what he was seeing.

"Ti-time for what?"

As if on queue, a whistle was heard ways away, and an old style locomotive popped out of the horizon, speeding towards them.

"What I said about leaving everything to rest," Jonathan said, taking a few steps closer to him. "Still stands. This is your choice to let the Joestar bloodline prove it's mettle throughout the generations once more, by it's own. But, like I also said before, you're still at a crossroads."

Without even noticing the massive machine had stopped right beside them, passenger cabs all open and empty.

"This is the last train home Joseph. You can take it or leave it."

Joseph stood still for a few seconds, which felt more like an eternity to him, the mental struggle almost physical upon his face. But at last, he simply huffed and smiled, trying his best to hold back tears.

"Hey, I'm an old fart anyway. I'll probably end up back here in no time," he desperately wiped his hand across his face. "You'll...you'll still be here right?"

Jonathan smiled at that, almost a chuckle in fact.

"Where do you expect us to go?" he then looked at his pocket watch again. "You better hurry then: it's almost time."

Joseph practically jumped on the train as it started back up, taking him away with an unnatural speed, the visions in the clouds bidding him farewell, with Jonathan doing so as well, resuming his seated reading before everything went white.

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**Author's notes: **A little something inspired by listening to Last Train Home and some of the comments on that video. So, you know, highly recommended listening to that during this reading.

That's all I really have to say. This was a bit of an experiment. Hope you guys enjoy and that's that. Bone of Dome out.


End file.
